In 2003, President George W. Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. (Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq.)

In 2012, a motorbike assailant opened fire in front of a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two young sons, and a girl. (The gunman, French-born Mohammed Merah, was killed in a gunfight with police after a 32-hour standoff at his apartment; he had also killed three French paratroopers.)